PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Two months ago, the New York Times (NYT) published a scathing report about the workforce at etail giant Amazon.
But now Jay Carney, SVP for global affairs at Amazon, has replied to the report to ‘set the record straight’ about some of the accusations that were made – better late than never, right?
The blog post criticises the overall journalistic integrity of the New York Times report, as well as addressing some of the facts that were previously stated.
Carney also goes on to reveal that Bo Olson, who made various comments in the report, previously worked at the etailer and was fired after ‘an investigation revealed he had attempted to defraud vendors and conceal it by falsifying business records’.
Carney also points out that this information was left out of the original report, despite it suggesting that Olson ‘might have an axe to grind’.
Other Amazon employees who spoke about their working life in the article were also addressed in Carney’s report.
For example, Dina Vaccari, a former employee who was quoted saying she didn’t sleep for four days straight in the New York Times report, responded saying that she chose not to sleep due to private matters and her enrolment at the University of Washington’s Foster Technology MBA program.
In addition, Elizabeth Willet who stated she was ‘strafed’ by the Amazon Anytime Feedback Tool, apparently only received three pieces of feedback, which were all positive, so says Carney.
Carney also said: “Journalism 101 instructs that facts should be checked and sources should be vetted. When there are two sides of a story, a reader deserves to know them both. Why did the Times choose not to follow standard practice here?”
Carney’s response to the report certainly tries to outline some of the grievances, but of course this isn’t the first time Amazon has been accused of such bullish behaviour. Back in to 2013 secret undercover reports were carried out in Amazon’s UK warehouses, which implied the firm overworked its staff.
But actions do speak louder than words, and the company has recently revealed it will be creating 100,000 job positions for the holiday season across its US business.
Mike Roth, VP of North America operations, said: “We’ve hired more than 25,000 full-time associates across the US in recent months and we’re looking forward to adding 100,000 seasonal employees for the upcoming holiday season.
“We’re excited to grow our team by finding great talent through our seasonal hiring efforts in addition to creating new full-time jobs that offer comprehensive benefits starting on day one."
